Treasure Hunting

Andreas-photography / Beach Photos / CC BY-NC

I love living with a three-year-old boy. Note: he’s not my three-year-old boy, but his parents have graciously welcomed me into their home for this season and now I have the blessing of getting to do life with them.

If you’ve been around kids for a while, I’m sure you’ll understand what I mean when I say I have pages and pages in my journal about what this child and his family are teaching me about human nature and the love of God. I love learning about my Daddy through the eyes of little children.

Yesterday, my little buddy and I were going on an adventure. We sat on the couch—I mean, in our pirate ship—as the boy steered us through the treacherous ocean to many different desert islands. What was the goal of our adventures? To gain more treasure, of course! Arrrr, we be pirates, matey.

When we got to the first shore, the boy lept from the boat, but I hesitated.
Me: “Can you hold my hand, Captain? I’m a little scared.”
Boy: “It’s not scary, it’s an adventure!”
Me: “Ohhhh.” (Mental note: Write this in your journal.)

So we headed ashore to explore the island. Each time I would try to add fear to the game, the boy would keep reminding me, “It’s not scary, Miss Robyn.” When we had finished exploring, he’d say, “Let’s go to a new place! I wonder what we’ll find on this island. Don’t worry, it’s not scary.”

“We are going to so many places,” the boy said in excitement in the middle of his playroom. The walls of the room, by the way, are plastered fittingly with maps of the world. “And everywhere we go we just get more and more treasure!” (Actually, he said “toys,” because in his three-year-old mind, treasure=toys. But I think the metaphor still stands.)

So if I’m going to extend this metaphor to my life journey and yours, let me say that again: Everywhere we go, we just get more and more treasure. 

What is the only treasure that matters? Christ. Where do I want to rest my heart? In the Kingdom of God. Each new day, each scary leap, each opportunity to grow, each desert island, is a chance to gain more and more of the treasure of Christ–that is, a deeper relationship with our Savior and Maker. Paul the apostle calls this the “surpassing greatness,” sometimes translated as “overwhelming preciousness” of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. Treasure.

Last week, I wrote about being terrified of a new adventure and trying to lay that fear aside to trust in my God. This week, He reminded me, through the beautiful imagination of a little boy, that this scary adventure is a chance to know Him more, a chance to draw even deeper from the precious well of His presence, and a chance to partake in and spread the treasure of His Kingdom. And remember, Miss Robyn, there’s no need to be scared, anyway.

I feel like I’m in the ocean. In a number of ways, that’s a good feeling as well as a bad feeling. Regardless, I’ve set the sails, and I’m relying on the direction of my Captain. Now I just have to wait for the timing of the wind and pray I’ll have the courage to leap ashore when the water meets the land….

Praying you would find treasure today,
Robyn

Photo: Andreas-photography

Brief Pause

I’m going to take this week just ask you all for your prayers!

 
I love this little community we have here.  Although we don’t talk to each other near enough, I love being able to read what’s going on in the lives of these other women, and I hope you enjoy it, too!

 
To catch up on the “why” of all these prayer requests, you can check one of my old posts, “Believing is Believing“, and my personal blog here.

 
For the next 8 weeks I am going to be in Oklahoma, Maryland, Georgia, and Puerto Rico!  I will get to be a part of two youth camps, one week of seeing family and speaking about what God is doing in Trek-X (the missions program I get to be a part of), and one month of sun and Jesus-love making new connections for that same program.

 
I’ll still have a post up each week, but I am pre-writing them so I won’t get to update you lovelies until after it’s all said and done!

 
I covet your prayers for myself and for Chris as we get to do a lot of driving, late nights, and pouring, pouring, pouring over the next few weeks.  I am extremely excited to see what God does through our exhausted, weak vessels!  Only if we stay surrendered, in the Word, and quieted to the Holy Spirit will we not kill each other and burden everyone around us.

 
And only if we stay surrendered, in the Word, and quieted to the Holy Spirit will we get to see the Kingdom come all over the United States (and its territories)!

 
Please pray for the people in Maryland, Atlanta, GA, and Puerto Rico that we will get to talk to and show about Jesus’ great love.
To God be the glory!

 
LOVE,
Mary

You are a Masterpiece

I spent a weekend in North Myrtle Beach recently. I love the beach. The weather wasn’t the best, but it was the beach – and to me the beach is always nice. I love walking across the sand staring out across the breaking waters. I savor in the sunsets and struggle awake to catch a glimpse of sunrise. I appreciate green spaces and, honestly, missed them when I lived on a tropical coastline, but there is something healing about the ocean.

While I was there we spent our Sunday morning in a service at Barefoot Church where the Pastor spoke on our purpose in Christ. He said that so often Christians know who they are and they know who Christ is, but they don’t know who they are in Christ. God is a creator. And just like any great artist, he has never created without a purpose. Every part of God’s creation has a place in the order of life. And while I think most of us can respect that the sun and the moon and the currents of the ocean all work together in perfect harmony through perfect design from the Almighty, I think it’s difficult to apply that same concept to yourself.

We are creations. Individually. If you were hanging in a gallery, it’s entirely possible that you would be next to the Great Barrier Reef or the Northern Lights. To God you are just as great a masterpiece. And when God created you, he painted a story in the strokes that are your heart, mind, face, voice, hands.

I tutor high school students for the Critical Reading & Writing sections of the SAT. Recently I was reviewing a passage with one of my students that discussed whether the true merit of a work of art was in the technique or in the meaning behind the work. Often the title of a piece shapes peoples perceptions more than the artwork itself. The article argued that art should be judged on its own without the swaying of a title or a story. I believe if we did a profile on the greatest artist of all time, he would disagree with this article.

While God made very intentional decisions when he decided whether you would look out from baby blue or golden brown eyes, that is not a great accomplishment for him. He created Victoria Falls and the Grand Canyon – eyes are kind of child’s play after those. God’s concern, his pride, his excitement is in your story. In your purpose.

So, I challenge you: What is your purpose? What’s your story? And are you sure it’s the one God intended or are you misinterpreting his work of art?

In Grace & Happiness,
Rachel

Photo credit: Greg Annandale / Foter.com / CC BY-NC
Photo credit: Zest-pk / Foter.com / CC BY

His Way, Not Mine

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” Proverbs 19:21

Since the moment we left Nashville, responding to the massive flooding with a three week disaster relief trip, we knew that everything we did from then on would be about making missionary work our life.

 
We set out a plan, decided to work for awhile to save the money, made a move to Mississippi to be closer to our home church, make new plans, set dates, set new dates, and prayed the day would come.

 
That was three years ago.

In those three years, we were working so hard towards something and yet, we never could achieve it. We’d look at one another and wonder, as the months went by, why it was so hard to pursue what we knew God wanted us to pursue.

 
The answer is simple.

 
WE were trying to make it work. WE were making the plans and WE were trying to do it our way.

 
We.
Not Him.

 
When the news hit about the tornado’s in Texas, something changed. I felt like the time was up and it was time to give Him back FULL control. It was time to let go of ‘the plans’ and follow the road He laid out in front of us. The road where I won’t have all the answers, and I won’t have all the money stored up. The road that was none of us and all of Him.
For me, that is so hard. In fact, even though I was sitting there watching the news coverage, feeling so over-overwhelmingly called, the doubts were sprouting up. What about our bills? our debt? Kurt’s job? Our family? Could we really just leave? Kurt’s sister is having a baby soon, shouldn’t we be here for that? Oh, and my brother graduates high school. Can I miss that? What about this? or that?

 
I was terrified to make the leap and I was justifying everything so I wouldn’t have to.
I messaged a friend, and explained my fears. She answered in one sentence:

 
You ALWAYS answer the call.

 
So, it was time to forget our plans. Time to stop trying to have a backup plan and know that God will provide and carry us.

 
It’s His way now, not ours, and I feel like we are going to do great things for His kingdom.
With that said, our first stop is Granbury, Texas and we leave as soon as we can raise the money to get there! I can’t believe God chose me for this adventure, and I pray that in all things, I remember to give Him control and see more of Him and less of me.

 
You can follow our journey here: Morton Missions
And if you feel lead to support our mission, big or small, please make a donation here

Thank you all, amazing readers, for your love and support from the beginning. You are apart of this journey with us and we can’t thank you enough.

 
With love and Blessings,
Jenny

Photo Credit: Moyan_Brenn, Flickr Creative Commons

S

Dealing with Fear

Community, I’ve been in a post-graduation transitional state for a few months now, but I just recently made a big decision. I chose a path that will take me somewhere new and adventurous and unpredictable, at least for a year. Hopefully, by the time you read this post, thinking about this path will bring only exciting and peaceful thoughts to my mind. But right now, community, I want to be real with you: I’m terrified.

As soon as I made the decision, and in the days after it, I’ve been plagued with aching fears and doubts. The decision’s been made, the paper’s been signed, the plan is in motion, and I lie in my bed as the anxious thoughts spin round and round and I cry, What in the world did I just do?

I’m sure this has happened before, when I’ve faced paths like this. I’m sure I’ve felt afraid even as I trusted in God to lead me. The fears just feel so much worse this time. It’s enough to start me questioning if I made the right decision, if God really is leading me here, if I just completely missed something. However, when I think about stopping and giving up the path entirely, I resist. I don’t want to. I don’t want to stop, but I’m afraid to go. Can anybody relate to this?

The other day, a mentor asked me if I thought this new path would be scary or exciting. I said both, since the scary part is what makes it exciting–because if God doesn’t show up, I’m not going to make it. I actually said that, I don’t know where it came from, but I said it aloud, and I started tearing up at the thought of God leading me down this road. I thank the Holy Spirit for that moment. It’s definitely not the first time the Spirit’s swept in to bring words to my mouth about how the scary part is actually the best part.

God is so good, so good, and He will never leave me nor forsake me. I want to be authentic with you about this journey and about my fears, but I also want to align those thoughts and emotions with the Truth that God is in control. Thank you for sharing this road with me.

What about you? What’s happening in your journey right now? How do you handle the fears and doubts that come your way? I pray that the God of the universe would fill you (and me) with the peace of the Savior that surpasses all understanding.

Love, Robyn

Photo: Robyn

Cave Dwellers

 

“What are you doing here, Elijah?”

 
After God sends fire down from heaven to burn up not just the sacrifice, but also lap up the water filling the trench around the altar, all of the prophets of Baal are killed. They had led so many Israelites to commit “adultery” (as God put it) with this horrible foreign god. Instead of rejoicing and working to return Israel to the true worship of Almighty God, when Elijah finds out that evil Queen Jezebel is out to get him, he tucks in his tail and runs to hide in a cave. God asks Elijah the question above twice. The first time, when He first confronts Elijah, He simply asks the question. The second time, God sends a gushing wind, a crushing earthquake, then a consuming fire- “but God was not in” them. When God called to him with a “gentle whisper,” Elijah uses his cloak to cover his face. The Lord God asks again, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He knew it was the voice of Almighty God. Doesn’t that sound like an oxymoron?

 
One time I had a Mslm young man tell me that his sacred book says that God cannot have a son. I asked him, “Do you believe that God is Almighty?” He answered, “Of course!” Then I asked him, “If you believe that, then how can you say there is something that God cannot do?” He did not know what to answer to that.

 
It is so easy for us to condemn Elijah for hiding in a cave, Peter for sinking into the sea, and Thomas for doubting the resurrection, among others of the “cloud of witnesses” that have come before us. But, what about our own lack of faith? I am preaching to myself here. I have seen God work miraculously in my life and have encountered His Presence in supernatural ways time and time again, but there are dark moments in my walk with Him that I duck my heavy head and hide in a cave.

 
I believe, at least right now, like my young Mslm friend says he did, that God is Almighty. Nothing is impossible with Him! Glory be to God! But, I take unfortunate detours when, though I may have just seen fire come down from heaven (well, not literally, but you know what I mean), I’m hiding, wanting to get away from the difficulties of life, lamenting with an occasional “Woe is me!”

 
It is in that moment, when my Almighty, all-consuming God comes to me with His gentle, soft whisper and asks, “What are you doing here?”

 
I love that worship song that says, “The same power that conquered the grave lives in me, lives in me!”

 
I need to sing it over and over again. Ultimately, regardless of my circumstance, I serve a God that conquered death. This is something that man has never been able to do. Oh yeah, we’ve been to the circus and turned on the TV to watch stunt people do what they call “death-defying acts.” But, really, no one has ever defied death but our Almighty God.
Why are we, then, hiding out in the cave of our doubt?

 
I am not calling for anyone to pull up your bootstraps and just get over it. No, I know myself and the frailty of my faith. There are times when I frantically look at my situation and say, like the distraught father in Mark 9, “Lord, I DO believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” All it takes is stepping out in our feeble faith, and allow our Almighty God to not only work a mind-blowing miracle to our situation, but also work a miracle by growing the faith that we lack.

 
We need to declare to ourselves, “My Almighty God CONQUERED THE GRAVE!” So, in the midst of it all, we know that nothing is too difficult for Him. And, the even greater thing is, our Almighty God tenderly loves us and asks gently,
“What are you doing here, (insert your name)?”

 
Come on, fellow cave-dweller, believe in the Lord God who conquered the grave and allow Him to gently coax you out of that cave. Don’t shrink back in shame and fear. Be willing to walk, even timidly, but take that step, believing that He is able to do what needs to be done- for your good and for His glory.

 
“Living He loved me,
Dying He saved me,
Buried He carried my sins far away.
Rising He justified freely forever.
One day He’s coming, oh Glorious Day!”

 

Praising Him,
Kimberley

This Faith

 

God just blessed me with a birthday. In general, I really like landmarks – dates to point back to, places and experiences to help me remember life’s greatest gifts. This was the first birthday I got to spend with the new family I will be sharing a name with. It was a day I had thought, up until three weeks ago, I would be taking off of work and maybe coming to meet these people for the first time. The great leap of faith my life currently is still a crazy, beautiful, unexpected challenge.

 
Faith is definitely one of my strongest spiritual gifts. Yours may be teaching, hospitality, administration, etc. But we all have something that comes simply to us thanks to the Holy Spirit. In that, it is really, really easy for me to get a little puffed up in how much I trust the Lord. I like to think about how one day I’m going to get to tell this incredible story of how God completely rocked our worlds and showed Himself impossibly faithful; and how awesome Chris and I were in all of it. This morning, Jesus spoke some really incredible truth to me in Romans 3:27, “So do we have a reason to brag about ourselves? No! And why not? It is the way of faith that stops all bragging, not the way of trying to obey the law.”
I had breakfast with some sisters and Kelly from Kelly’s Korner this morning, too. Her blog is read by thousands of people every day. Her testimony of God’s faithfulness through singleness, infertility, and lots and lots of waiting is incredible, and I hope you get to hear it someday. She talked a lot about our circle of influence and how we’re going to use it for God’s glory and not our own.

 
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:1-2

 
This race is not about having a good story to tell. Its not even about how well you or I can handle it. Its about our amazing, powerful, incredible God and how close we can get to Him. Thats all. Don’t lose focus, Mary. Don’t lose focus, sister. Fix your eyes on Jesus.

 
LOVE,
Mary

 

Photo Credit: Michael Caven, Flickr Creative Commons